21st European Forum on Eco-Innovation, 5-6 February 2018, Sofia, Bulgaria

The goal of this Forum was to examine eco-innovative solutions and practices for improving air quality in Europe. For this purpose, public authorities were brought together with companies, research institutes and universities that have already succeeded in developing and deploying effective new technologies, or innovative business and governance models. You can find the detailed agendahere.

This year’s Forum was the largest ever, bringing together 400 participants and speakers from 33 countries, attending targeted central presentations (e.g. financing mechanisms and opportunities for eco-innovative solutions for clean air) and up to 9 selected case studies on air quality and energy, agriculture or transport. Presentations and pictures are available here.

The National Observatory of Athens –as the coordinator of SMURBS- was invited in this forum to present the case study no 6 at the ConverStation “Energy and Air quality” (Session 2). The theme of this interactive presentation was the residential wood burning air pollution in Athens during the ongoing economic crisis, as well as innovative instrumentation, solutions and practices relevant to this issue, under the smart city concept. The SMURBS presentation can be found here.

The highlighted message of this forum is that eco-innovative solutions for a better air quality are already out there, we should invest on their exploitation.The Forum was broadcasted. Videos can be found here.

The report that outlines the conclusions of the forum’s discussions and debates can be found here